


What We See

by flinchflower



Series: Slash Me Twice [64]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Discipline, Ghosts, Hunters, M/M, OMC death, Psychic Abilities, Wincest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 11:00:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flinchflower/pseuds/flinchflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 64: Ghost.  The Winchesters are interrupted from hunt training with an emergency that sends them running to the reservation in Toronto for shelter and protection.  Begins Toronto arc.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We See

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not for profit, simply a writing exercise. Herein lies Dean/Sam slash, in an AU timeline where John did not lose his life. John appears in parental context only. Follows in series from previous prompts, but stands alone if preferred.

John came awake in the middle of the night, all of his muscles tensed, hand gripping the knife under his pillow. Combat ready. With ease borne of years of practice, he shifted slowly until he faced the room and could open his eyes, assess the room with all of his senses. And looked directly into a white face that was three feet from his own. He woke Sam with the violent movment of the dagger being thrown, and he spat out a number of choice swearwords when the dagger went through the apparition. 

Dean had just appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, shotgun in hand, as John recognized the face.

“HOLD,” he barked, and Dean shifted his grip on the gun just slightly enough that John knew he’d obeyed, a Winchester tell that wouldn’t be noticeable to any other than the three of them.

“Kennewell,” he said roughly, looking at the ghost in front of him. 

“You need to run, Johnny,” the apparition said. “Run, and run now, I’ve bought you about twelve hours, and you can be on the rez in Canada if you’re careful. Do it, man.”

“Kennewell,” he said again, voice broken this time. 

“Shut the fuck up, Winchester, and pack it out. Galian is tailing me, he’ll take care of my bones. Just get out of here.” The ghost seemed to look at the cross hanging over the bed, and then faded out.

“Boys!” John barked the order, and his boys scrambled. Dean was stumbling out the door ten mintues later, with Sam and John tight on his heels, bags in hand and tossed in the trunk of the Impala. John dashed back inside and came up with an iron box from the fireplace, the cross from the wall, and signaled Dean to drive. First one in the Impala always took the wheel, and last one in watched their six.

“What’s going on, Dad,” came Dean’s tense question as he roared onto the freeway. 

“Head for the rez,” he said tersely. “Sam, call Bobby.”

“I am,” they both said at the same time.

“Jackson Kennewell owns that cabin, been hunting for longer than Bobby or Jim. Something’s happened, think he bought it.”

“Dammit.” 

John let the swearword go by him without mention. “Sam. Get out your elekes, boy.”

Sam looked startled, but dipped a hand in his bag without taking his eyes off the other cars on the road, slowly pulling the beaded necklaces out, and dropping them over his head with a prayer.

“Now, you activate the wards for the car, Sam, do it with me.” Another startled look, but it didn’t stop his boy from immediate response. Together they recited the prayers, with Dean listening at the edges of his attention, his focus locked on the road before them and his sense of direction, his knowledge of the highways before them. He skidded off onto a lesser road on pure instinct, and gunned it. John finished the prayer with his son, assessing Dean’s move.

“Dean?”

“Dunno, Dad.”

He nodded, trusting the hunter’s instinct he’d worked so hard to build in his son. It was how they worked out here, trust first, and questions later. 

“Dad.”

He knew he didn’t like the tone of Sam’s voice, that was for sure. It spiked fear into his heart, and fear was not something John Winchester dealt with well.

“Sammy.”

“Need you here.”

“Tell me.”

“Hands on my shoulders. You’re gonna have to take your eyes off, Dad.”

He spat a curse even as he moved to obey. Once his hands were on Sam’s shoulders, he heard Sam whispering one of the prayers that he remembered to be a binding spell, knowing that Sam could draw on his energy to execute whatever the boy had in mind. He gently massaged the tight muscles under his hands, focusing completely on his boy, knowing it would make the task easier. He tried to keep the knowledge of his worry about Dean from the boy at the same time. Sam had his own journal open, and was beginning to read slowly and steadily in Latin, an incantation that John didn’t recognize. He felt a burning sensation along his back, and tamped down the fear he felt. It seemed to take forever before he heard the threefold Amen that signaled the finish of the prayer, and his back was still burning. Dean was shifting in his seat as well.

“It’s just your tats, Dad, Dean, back off your speed about ten miles.”

“Sam, we don’t have a lot of time,” he said, even as his foot eased back. Trust first.

Sam took a deep breath. “It should… hide us,” he said, “but it will help if you don’t attract the attention of any other cars, or troopers especially, so you need to slow down.”

“A shield,” John asked. 

“Yes,” came the satisfying confirmation. “You don’t need to watch as close, Dad, you’ll… know… when you need to. I’ve used this one before, at school.” The other two men relaxed instantly. It was a known defense, and Sam was comfortable with it, and they’d take the time to breathe while they could. “I just needed Dad because I’m still tired, and I didn’t want to fuck it up.” Sam got nods from his father and brother.

“Good deal, Sam,” came the remark from Dean.

“Take the north crossing – remember we’ve avoided border patrol up there before, but be ready to stop. Dad, go ahead and make a call to Bobby, but don’t talk to anyone but him or Jim, it makes it too hard to hold the shield otherwise. Turn your phone off if you’re not on it.” He switched his own off as he spoke, and reached for Dean’s. Then he tossed a handful of herbs on the dashboard, ignoring Dean’s pained glance, and handed a second palmful to John so his father could repeat the motion. The scent of the cedar and sage had the effect of clearing their minds a little, at least, recognizing the protective herbs. 

Neither boy could make out John’s hushed conversation, and Sam’s hand crept over to rest on Dean’s thigh, as he continued to page through the journal. The Impala glided over the miles as John switched from Bobby to Jim, cursing as he had to ignore other calls. Finally, as they approached the border, he turned the thing off, and sat for a moment, letting the information sink in.

“Listen up.” He had their immediate attention. Their eyes remained watchful on the road, but the shift in position, that alert poise was there. “Demon took out Kennewell trying to get information about us out of him – Gavin told as much to Bobby. Jim agrees with Bobby and me that we head for the rez, finish this instruction that Sam needs – and something tells me that when that’s done, this fucker is going down, boys. It hasn’t been able to track Sam, you boys hear me? We’ve been doing the right thing. Bobby’ll send another hunter up to clean up the hunt we were about to take care of, we’re supposed to head for safety. Neither Jim nor Bobby know this contact of yours, Sam, I’m the only one who’s met him, so we’ll be doubly safe. You just keep up with what you’ve been doing, let Dean and me know if you need help, got that?”

“Yessir.” Sam’s voice was strong, though gritty with exhaustion. John glanced at the road signs, estimating they had another three hours to go.

“Okay on gas, Dean?” 

“Yeah. Full jerry can in the trunk, too.”

The rest of the drive was tense, the three men glancing at one another sometimes in fear, sometimes with pride, until they finally glided into the reservation. Dean filled the tank and the spares at the gas station just inside, and they headed up the side of the mountain to meet with Grey.

Dean swore and braked, sliding to a stop on the steep gravel road just in front of Grey Fox Running. Grey pointed at a stand of cedar trees, and Dean inched the Impala in ever so carefully. They piled out, and before the doors had even closed, the man was piling boughs across the engine end, and tossing a handful of sage over the roof. Dean turned a hand while Sam helped John haul their gear out of the trunk, so he could let John know what weapons to leave sealed in the car. John pulled Sam off to the side, double checking their hiking packs, when Grey walked up and cleared his throat. Sam stood up, and in the next second he’d made a sort of choking noise and skyrocketed into the older man’s arms.

Grey Fox just held the boy in his arms, and let his eyes bore into John’s tired ones, turned to nod at Dean to calm the older boy down. He pointed at the Impala, speaking a few calm words, and tossed another handful of herbs into the wind, and John had the eerie sense that the cedars leaned in over her. It seemed to take forever before he stepped away from their boy, and then he simply motioned John to hand him one of the packs.

“Your son needs you, and I will bear your burden.” Then he turned and led them out, motioning to Dean to take the rear, knowing the older boy would be calmer if he could watch his father and Sam. Grey led them up and into the mountains, and the shadows were lengthening by the time the half-breed took them in close to a ridge, and into the shadows. Bushes hid the entrance to a cave, and he held them aside as John supported a stumbling Sam inside, and Dean checked the backtrail, nodding at Grey as he stepped in.

Grey’s first motion was to lead them into a second opening, and light a fire in a ring left there for the purpose. Dean rolled out their sleeping pads and sleeping bags, clustering them close to the fire, and dug out another layer for Sam, helping John stuff the boy into it. Grey turned around the perimeter of the room, marking symbols onto the rock walls around them.

“Ward your boy into sleep, and then we will talk. Here, you are safe. Now soothe him.”


End file.
